The present invention relates to an apparatus for grouping artificial insemination straws.
It is known that artificial insemination establishments must store for many years, before utilization, considerable amounts of reproducing bull semen during the time required to ascertain the improving qualities of the race of the bulls on a small number of their descendants called "test animals".
During this time the storage is carried out by doses in elongated cylindrical straws of standard diameters, for example 2 or 3 mm. It can occur that insemination establishments, which distribute only a few hundreds of thousands of doses annually, have several millions of doses in stock. Indeed, the race-improving quality of a bull is only known several years after his death and usually only one animal in ten has this quality, the doses coming from all the others being then destroyed.
The storage is carried out usually by grouping the straws in containers having a generally cylindrical shape such as test-tubes or cases which may contain 200 to 850 straws for example. The straws grouped in this way and previously deep-frozen are then conserved inside cryogenic vessels which contain nitrogen at about -196.degree.C and are assembled in special buildings.
The straws, crystallized by the cold, are consequently extremely fragile and this is why an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for grouping such straws without damaging them.